Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Nugget of Treasure

As you all probably know by now, I am a huge thrift shop aficionado.  I grant you, there’s lots and lots of junk but there are also, once in a lucky while, some truly amazing finds!  This book was one of them:

Doesn’t look like much, does it?  Older, obviously, with a cloth binding.  Does anyone actually use a real cloth binding any more?  The tape at the corners and spine also indicates age as well as revealing the book’s provenance to have been that of a library (a discard from the town library in Salem, NH).  I remember watching the librarian apply this sort of treatment to books in the tiny library in the small town where I grew up.  The tape was used to cover wear spots on a book and to help prevent further degeneration but I don’t think this sort of thing is done any more.  As a 10 or 11-year-old, I thought this was marvelous - a way of keeping the book “alive” even if borrowers didn’t, perhaps, care for it too carefully.  I loved watching the process too, from the careful placement of the tape, to the precise inking of the author’s name and the book’s title (white ink!) on the spine...that is, when I wasn’t arguing with Mrs. Dockett that I did too read at least 6 books a week!





...Mary Thomas, that is!  I tell you, my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw this sitting amongst the paperbacks and craft magazines (mostly quilt related) because this isn’t the sort of thing that people typically donate to thrift shops.  People who own this kind of book tend to hoard - and I include myself in that group.  Absolutely the only reason I got so lucky is that I was the first knitter to see it after it had been put out.





The copyright page indicates that this was published in 1945 during WWII and is a first printing.  This is only of historical interest to me (don’t you love the copperplate style eagle?) as even if the book were worth anything, monetarily speaking, I wouldn’t part with it.  However, it’s worth noting that for a 62-year-old volume, it’s in pretty decent shape.  The spine is whole and solid, as are the covers.  The pages, while a bit yellowed, are in amazingly good condition - not the least bit brittle, none missing or torn and no dad-blamed dog-ears.  I know it’s petty of me and probably indicative of a deeply flawed character, but whenever I see someone bend over the corner of a page to make a bookmark, I want to break their fingers.

This is a collection of knitting stitch patterns.  Many of them I am familiar with, as you would be but some of them I had never seen before.  There are some photographs…

...black and white, of course.  Most of the patterns, however, are illustrated by drawings…





...painstakingly (and tediously, I’d imagine) done in pen and ink.  There are also amusing little “cartoon” type drawings used to humorously illustrate the stitch being described.  At least I’m pretty sure that was the intention though this sketch of a woman taking a hairbrush to her son’s backside…





... next to the description of “Welts” probably wouldn’t pass muster for a contemporary publication :).  I apologize for the fuzziness - the sketch is only about 3/4” tall and this is the best my camera could make of it.

The book is so densely packed with information about how various types of stitches are formed and how different combinations of them affect the fabric that I’m sure I’ll need to read and re-read it before I even begin to assimilate it.  Not only are its descriptions and instructions clear and detailed, the book contains both history and translations.  For example, there is a photograph of the shirt King Charles wore on his execution day - for which the stitch pattern “King Charles Brocade” is named.  I have read this story many times but never before seen the garment.  There are also lists of knitting terms in both German and French.

But the thing that surprised me most was this:

I had no idea the use of charts went back as far as the war; none of the knitting instructions I ever glanced at over the years had them and I didn’t start seeing them in general use until about five years ago.  The symbols aren’t the ones we commonly use today (not that there’s really a common symbol set even now!) but the chart is clearly recognizable as such and all that would be needed in order to work it would be a symbol key - which there is at the front of the book.  Not all stitch patterns are charted, but most are.

I’ve had this book on the coffee table for days now and every time I pick it up I discover something new and fascinating.  This is going to be a valuable (invaluable?  In this context, what’s the difference?) reference and I am so going to enjoy ferreting out every little nugget of knitting gold it contains.

Oh yeah - it cost 99¢ :)

Note:This book is still in print, available from Dover Publications.  It’s paperback and I believe the last revision was in the early 70s.

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1. Great find!  Though, I must admit, if I were the first knitter at that shop and you, the second, you still may have gotten the book.  Until you mentioned all the great things in it, I might not have appreciated its historic significance.  I haven’t been knitting long enough to know enough history.  The name Mary Thomas means little to me… guess I should do some research!  :)

   Hope you’re feeling well.

   Posted by Kathleen  on  06/06  at  09:27 AM
   Location : Maryland



2. Very nice!! That truly is a special find and a book I’m sure you’ll treasure. I do hope you’ll continue to share little snippets with us now and then.

   Posted by Ev  on  06/06  at  09:37 AM
   Location : Kelowna



3. what a small world!! i have a copy of that same book and have found it informative for years- i love thomas’ *historical essays* about knitting through history, and there are a couple of pics of really really ancient items that are just astounding- kinda makes my most recent finished object (a baby washcloth from cotton) look like toast!

   most of the places around here that call themselves ‘thrift shops’ actually resemble city landfills and are filled with discarded refuse- i know that one person’s trash may well be another person’s treasure, but i challenge anyone to find much treasure in these- most of the items in them are truly dirty and i just cannot bring myself to scrabble around among anyone else’s dirty laundry! ack!! books are just non-existent (maybe we don’t read in this part of the world?) and i’ve never seen any of the knitting and crochet yarns and implements that others seem to come across either- oh, bah and humbug!! congrats on your finds- you are always coming up with something remarkable-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  06/06  at  11:39 AM
   Location : same place as usual...



4. Mary Thomas - her books are classics. I first came across her name when the erstwhile Bishop of Leicester, Richard Rutt(a well-known knitter who wrote a history of hand-knitting) mentioned her in an interview. I have the Dover reprint of her other book: a guide for knitters with instructions and advice on all the basic techniques and more.

   Posted by Anne  on  06/06  at  04:45 PM
   Location : UK



5. What an awesome find!

   Posted by Opal  on  06/06  at  05:39 PM
   Location : Honolulu, Hawaii



6. Kathleen - Well, to be honest, I was familiar with Barbara Walker before I knew of anyone else in the knitting firmament - See? I have always been enthralled with collections of stitch patterns :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/06  at  08:31 PM
   Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



7. Ev - Oh I always share everything, I’m absolutely indiscriminate that way :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/06  at  08:42 PM
   Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



8. Barb - LOL!  First of all, toast can be quite respectable and desireable :) Second, I agree with you, for the most part, about thrift shops.  It’s just that once in a while...you dive into a bucket of dreck and come up with roses!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/06  at  08:51 PM
   Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



9. Anne - I think that is a different book than mine, but one I shall pursue.  I have heard of Rutt’s history, but never run into the book.  Perhaps that’s another one I should be keeping my eye open for!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/06  at  08:59 PM
   Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



10. Opal - You’re not kidding!  I hadn’t known that Thomas went back that far.  LOL - guilty of the same old sin - thinking everything started with your own generation :)

    Posted by Robbyn  on  06/06  at  09:03 PM
    Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



11. So cool! I love find like that. :) Which reminds me...I haven’t been to the thrift store in far too long. Gotta make a trip!

    Posted by Bron  on  06/07  at  08:10 AM
    Location :



12. "Finds”...I love “finds” like that, not “find.” Sigh.

    Posted by  on  06/07  at  08:11 AM
    Location :



13. Bron - Yep - finding something like that really makes one’s day!

    And don’t worry about the find/finds thing.  What’s an “s” between friends :)

    Posted by Robbyn  on  06/07  at  10:05 AM
    Location : Out from under - for a while at least!



14. Ahhhhh! It is so good to see you back. What an incredible find. I always check for knitting books...no luck. Good for you!

    Posted by Maureen  on  06/08  at  01:20 PM
    Location : NH



15. Maureen - Thank you, my friend :) It’s really good to be back.

    I also always check for knitting and crocheting books but let me tell you, the last time I found something this cool (it was a 1940s book on crochet absolutely stuffed with information and patterns) I was in college and that was mumblety-mumblety years ago :)

    Posted by Robbyn  on  06/08  at  04:31 PM
    Location : Out from under - for a while at least!

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